I finished the digging this morning. What an amazing feeling of accomplishment to stand back and look at that big, rectangular patch of dirt. Odd, really, considering it is just a big, rectangular patch of dirt. But I made it. Me. No one else. Feels good.

Next step was to get a garden rake and go at it, breaking the earth up, preparing it for the top soil. My cheap little garden rake turned out to be a real trooper. It turns out there's more stone than dirt in there. Big huge pieces of rock, some flat, some like cannon balls. The little rake finds them and then, with a little muscle from yours truly, yanks them out.

My neighbours tell me it is possible that my garden is going in exactly where an old stone wall used to stand. Part of the farmer's fields about 100 years ago when this was still farmland. Just my luck. New Brunswick is already the rockiest place in Canada and I have to put my garden in on top of an old stone wall!

At least now I have plenty of nice stones with which to line the edges of the garden as well as a selection of nice flat rocks to serve as paths between the beds. I also have aching muscles up and down my back, shoulders and arms (not to mention my legs). I gave in after raking about two-thirds of the bed. I'll do the rest tomorrow.

Next stop, top soil and seeding. Oh my!

Oh yeah, before I forget, I've put photos of two new birds on the "Backyard Birds" page. I'm not sure what either of them are because they're both small brown, speckled birds. If you can help me, please e-mail!